accretion disk
noun
variants
or less commonly accretion disc
plural accretion disks also accretion discs
: a disk of usually gaseous matter surrounding a massive celestial object (such as a black hole) in which the matter gradually spirals in toward and accretes onto the object as a result of gravitational attraction
Evans' team studied a supermassive black hole with jets 800 million light-years away named 3C 33. They never found an expected X-ray pattern … which results from light reflecting off the accretion disk.—
Bill Andrews
Bill AndrewsMost other moons are either captured planetesimals, or they formed along with the planet in a common accretion disc.—Daniel Herwartz, et al.
Daniel Herwartz, et al.Examples of accretion disk in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The glow occurs as gas in the accretion disk becomes hot and emits energy in the ultraviolet range.
—Jack Knudson, Discover Magazine, 17 Jan. 2024
The blinding radiation is due to the black hole’s accretion disk, or the ring around the black hole where material gathers before being consumed.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 21 Feb. 2024
Around the quasar, the accretion disk is 15,000 times the length between the sun and Neptune, per the ESA, and its black hole weighs about the same as 17 billion suns.
—Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Feb. 2024
To reconstruct the immediate environment around a black hole, Kara turns to the X-ray light given off by the accretion disk.
—Michael Greshko, Quanta Magazine, 12 Feb. 2024
The dust and gas in a black hole’s accretion disk don’t help with detection.
—Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 6 Feb. 2024
While the weaker wind still blows through the accretion disk and is capable of colliding with some matter flowing in from the companion star, causing some emissions, these are nowhere near those produced while in high mode.
—Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 6 Oct. 2023
This generates an accretion disk, a glowing structure at the edges of a black hole.
—Jack Knudson, Discover Magazine, 17 Jan. 2024
The team predicts that there may be similar things going on in their accretion disks, and there have definitely been cases where black holes show bursts of activity.
—Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 6 Oct. 2023
Jack Knudson, Discover Magazine, 17 Jan. 2024
The blinding radiation is due to the black hole’s accretion disk, or the ring around the black hole where material gathers before being consumed.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 21 Feb. 2024
Around the quasar, the accretion disk is 15,000 times the length between the sun and Neptune, per the ESA, and its black hole weighs about the same as 17 billion suns.
—Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Feb. 2024
To reconstruct the immediate environment around a black hole, Kara turns to the X-ray light given off by the accretion disk.
—Michael Greshko, Quanta Magazine, 12 Feb. 2024
The dust and gas in a black hole’s accretion disk don’t help with detection.
—Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 6 Feb. 2024
While the weaker wind still blows through the accretion disk and is capable of colliding with some matter flowing in from the companion star, causing some emissions, these are nowhere near those produced while in high mode.
—Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 6 Oct. 2023
This generates an accretion disk, a glowing structure at the edges of a black hole.
—Jack Knudson, Discover Magazine, 17 Jan. 2024
The team predicts that there may be similar things going on in their accretion disks, and there have definitely been cases where black holes show bursts of activity.
—Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 6 Oct. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'accretion disk.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Accretion disk.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accretion%20disk. Accessed 26 Apr. 2024.
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